Blind Side

1 John 3:16-20

(Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20John%203%3A16-20&version=NIV;NLT;MSG

 

 

¹⁶ This is how we’ve come to understand and experience love: Christ sacrificed his life for us. This is why we ought to live sacrificially for our fellow believers, and not just be out for ourselves.      MSG

 

One of my favorite movies is Blind Side. It’s the story of a wealthy white couple that adopts an adolescent black boy who is from a very poor and repressive background. Before being befriended by this family, his odds of ever overcoming his life circumstances were virtually zero.

 

The adoptive family went out of their way to help this young man who was homeless, by first providing him a place to stay for the night and eventually adopting him as a part of the family. The bottom line was that someone noticed him, believed in him, loved him and sacrificed for him.

 

Jesus spoke about this kind of love when he said, “love your neighbor as yourself”. He then explained through the story of the Good Samaritan, that our “neighbor” is defined as anyone in need that we are aware of. He doesn’t give us any disclaimers to justify excluding anyone.

 

^18-20 My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love. This is the only way we’ll know we’re living, truly living, in God’s reality. It’s also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves.     MSG

 

Henry David Thoreau wrote, "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation, and go to the grave with the song still in them." How depressing; but when you show love to another person, you are affirming their dignity; their value; their purpose for living, and at the same time affirming your own.

 

What would you be willing to sacrifice for a homeless adolescent? For someone leading a

life of quiet desperation? For the guy who cut you off in traffic? For the person who stepped over you to get the promotion instead of you? For the prostitute on the street? For the sexual offender in your neighborhood?

 

Who is your neighbor?

 

 

 

The Giving Tree

 (Righteous will flourish)

Proverbs 11:24-31

  

In the 1996 movie, Jerry Maguire, a slick sports agent has a crisis of conscience which results in him getting fired and starting his own agency. Desperate to salvage the only client/athlete that he has left, the agent shouts over the phone, “Show me the money!” to show his client just how committed he is to him.

In the world, this is what it comes down to a lot of the time. Somebody somewhere is shouting, “Show me the money! As believers though, we’re to have a different view towards money; a different perspective for its use. Proverbs has this to say about it.

 ²⁸ A life devoted to things is a dead life, a stump;

    a God-shaped life is a flourishing tree.           Proverbs 11 MSG

This verse paints a picture that reminds me of the children’s book written by Shel Silverstein titled “The Giving Tree”. It’s a story about a boy and a tree.

During his childhood, the boy enjoyed playing with the tree; climbing her trunk, swinging from her branches, and eating her apples. However, as he gets older he begins to use the tree for his own selfish pleasure; selling her apples, building a house from her branches and cutting her trunk to make a boat.

The tree gave and gave and gave of herself until all that was left was “a stump”. This is an interesting twist on verse 28. In “The Giving Tree”, the stump actually became “a flourishing tree”.

Every time that the tree gave another part of herself to the boy, the narrative states, “And the tree was happy”. This is similar to what Proverbs has to tell us about giving.

 ²⁴ The world of the generous gets larger and larger;

    the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller.

²⁵ The one who blesses others is abundantly blessed; those who help others are helped.       Proverbs 11 MSG

 THE Giving Tree of the Bible, gave and gave and gave of Himself to the point of sacrificing His one and only son whom He loved. Likewise, God calls us to invest ourselves in the lives of those around us; not just with our treasure, but also with our time and talents. If we do this, the result will be “a flourishing tree”.